Diving-gear.



H. W- SHONNARD.

DIVING GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21. I917.

1 29 6, 3 32 Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES INVENTOR H. W. SHONNARD.

DIVING GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, I917.

Patented Mgr. 4,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

4llllllini. 5!!! INVENTOR mm E STA'I E OFFICE HAROLD W. SHONNARD, F UPPER MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO CRUCIBLE STEEL COMPANY OF AMERICA, 0]! PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

DIVING-GEAR.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

Application filed June 21, 1917. Serial No. 176,094.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAROLD W. SHONNARD,

residing at Upper Montclair, in the county 7 of a horizontal rudder,

zen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Diving-Gears, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to diving gears for controlling and regulating the depth of immersion of marine automobile torpedoes. Such diving gears usually comprise a steering engine adapted to control'the position and a hydrostat and pendulum connected, through a system of levers to the steering engine valve in such a manner that either may independently, or both may simultaneously, control such valve.

The object is to improve the general construction of the hydrostat and pendulum mechanism to the end that greater delicacy and accuracy of operation may be attained. A further object is to provide a diving gear unit in which the movable parts are protected against injury, and which, as a whole, may readily be placed within or removed from a torpedo.

In the accompanying sheets of drawings, forming part of my specification, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment of my invention. Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a torpedo hull showing the diving gear in side elevation within the torpedo Fig. 2 a right end View of the diving gear as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a vertical sectional view taken on the line III-III, Fig. 2; and Figs. 4 and 5 sectional views taken, respectively, on the lines IVIV and V V, Fig. 3.

In the general arrangements of parts shown in Fig. 1, a reciprocating piston 1 of a steering engine 2 is attached to a rudder rod 3, and a reciprocable valve rod 4: of such engine is attached to a rod 5 connected to andadapted to be moved by the hydrostat or pendulum or both, the several parts being suitably mounted within a torpedo after-body hull 6, which may be provided with a suitable hand hole or opening 45 for access to the interior of the torpedo to connect the rod 5 to the rod 4. As far as my present invention is concerned the steering engine and the rudder rod connections may be of any 'well known or desired construction.

In the illustrative embodiment of my invention the hydrostat mechanism is contamed within a casing including a cylinder 7 forming thespring compartment, and a base portion 8 forming the diaphragm compartment, these two parts being suitably connected to each other by means of a coupling collar 9. Within the cylinder 7 there is a compression spring 10 hearing at its upper end against a flanged nut 11 longitudinally movable but non-rotatable within the cylinder. This nut has screw-thread engagement with a rod 13, rotatably mounted in the upper end of the cylinder, and provided at its upper end with a socket 14 adapted to receive the lower end of an indexing rod 15, which rod in connection with other well known indexing mechanism 16, is secured to the hull 6. By turning the indexing rod 15, the rod 13 may be rotated to cause the nut 11 to move longitudinally upon the rod 13 whereby the compression ofthe spring 10 may be adjusted. As will be observed, the connection between the rods 14 and 15 is a slip coupling which may be made or broken by merely moving the diving gear unit inwardly of, or outwardly from, the torpedo.

The lower end of the sprin 10 exerts its pressure against a piston 1 which is slidably mounted within the cylinder 7 and which, in a manner presently to be explained, is oppositely acted upon by the diaphragm. To assist in preventing a bind- 'hard graphite sleeve 18 which initself affords the necessary lubrication.

The diaphragm 19 is suitably mounted in the base portion 8 of'the casing, which portion is provided with a plurality of water inlet openings 20' so located at the fore and sides of the casingas to maintain within the casing, and while the torpedo is traveling on its course, the same hydrostatic pressure as depth at which the torpedo is submerged. Secured to the diaphragm, and projecting perpendicularly through the central portion thereof, is a rod 21 provided at its upper end with a spherical bearing face adapted to fit into a correspondingly shaped that of the water at the 7 socket formed in the upper end a recess in the piston 17., the diameter of such recess being substantially greater than that of the rod 21. It will be observed of this' construct1on .and arrangement that the spring and diaphragm exert their respective thrusts upon the 'slidable piston 17' in a substanas a unit,

tially common plane,thus largely eliminating the possibility era binding action, be tween the piston and cylinder wall, due to eccentricallyapplied thrusts of the spring and diaphragm;

Forthe sake ofc0mpao'tness,and also that the hydrostatand pendulum may be handled the pendulum is pivoted to th'e'hyd'ro'stat casing. shown in the 1 boundaries of thebase portion 8 of 'the hydrostat cas ng, the arrangement being such that the completely assembled unit may pass through the openingin the torpedo hull provided for-this purpose, andthe entire construction be secured in proper position within the torpedo solely by means of bolts 26 extending through the casing 8 and engaging'aframe 27 surrounding such open ln'g; To lock the pendulum against swlng ing, a suitableset screw 28 may extend through the casing 8 and engage the lower" end of the pendulum, as indicated in Fig. 3. While, as far as some features of my in vention are concerned, the system of levers between the 'hydrostat diaphragm and pen;

, dulum andthe rod 5 may be variously con- Ystructed and arranged, suchl'evers are pref- M erablyof such character and are so mounted that theymay be protected by the casing and- I pendulum, In the illustrative embodiment callyreciprocable rod 35.

phragm rod 21- is pivoted to a horizontal arm 29, which is secured to arock shaftSQE This shaft, as indicated in Fig; 4, projects 7 through the water compartment wall of the casingiS, and to "itsouter end there is attached a vertically disposed arm 31 connected at its upper end to a second vertically disposed arm- 32. [The arm 32 and a horizontally disposed arm 33 are secured toa To the side of V the casing cylinder'7, and in a position midwaybetween the pendulum arms 23, there issecureda bracket 36,7130 the outer end of which a bell crank lever 37, 38 is pivoted.

The lever arm 37 is pivotally connected to V the'upper endrlof the rod 35, and the lever arm '38 to the lower end of a divided or yoke shaped equalizing lever 39." "The equal} .izing lever is pivoted substantially at its s will be seen, the

the piston 17. The cylinder center tothe pendulum arms 23, and at its upper end to the rod-- 5.

It will befobs'erved o'f-the system of levers 7:

It is essen'tiahto the end that the diving gear be sensitive in operation, that these levers and their mountings be of relatlvely delicate construction; hence the desirablity :of protecting them-against injury by reason of accident to or rough usage of, the diving gear unit! I g In my" co-pending application SerialNo. 165,430 there is" shown and described a torpedo-steering'unitprovided with a water jacket soconstructed as to require no special "connectionsor parts for placing it in communication with the water of submersion,

the specific steering unit shown being a'gyroscope. The diving gear unit of my present application embodies essentially the same construction, the specific purpose of the water jacket being that the air in the spring compartment may not become heated by exhaustmotive gasesand exert ressure-upon is of double wallconstructlon afi'ordlng a water chamber or jacket through which the water of submersion is, -by the movement of the torpedothrough the water, caused to circulate. By-passes40, formed in the fore end ofthe casing 8, places the lower end of the waterfj acket in communication with the fore water-inlet openings 20 of the caslng, while 1 a conduit 41 extends from the upper endrof the casing cylinder 7 to a by-pass42 formed 'inthe aft'end oftheficasing 8, Fig.1. By such I construction, the movement. of the torpedo through the water causes a continu- 'ous current ofwaterto flow through the g ofmy'in'vention, the lower end of the dia- 457 and being withdrawn from the upper end thereof through conduit 41 and by-pass 42. By thus cooling the walls of the spring compartment, the air in such compartment may be maintained at a substantially uniform temperature, while, 1n mounting-the divlng .gear'. unit in the torpedo, no special con- 7 nections' need "be made for the purpose of 1'ockshaft'34, and-tothe' outer end of thef latter arm there is pivotally secured a vertiplacing the water jacket in communication with the water of submersion.

l In the operation of the diving gear, the

spring pressure upon" the piston 17 and hence upon the. diaphragm 19, is adjusted for a. desired depth of run by turning,

through indexing 'r'od'15, the rod 13. The movement of the diaphragm, under the ac- 'tionof either the spring 10 or the hydrostatic pressure upon the diaphragm,efi'ects, through the protected lever system shown and described, a movement of therod 5 to cause the steering engine 2 to operate. However, this movement of the diaphragm may be counteracted or accentuated by the swinging of the pendulum, or the swinging of the pendulum may in itself eflect a movement of the rod 5.

According to the provisions of the patent statute, I have described the principle and operation of my invention together with the construction which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that my invention may be practised in other forms of construction than that particularly shown and described.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a diving gear, the combination of a casing, a reciprocable piston slidably mounted Within said casing and having an extended surface contact with an inner wall thereof, a spring bearing on one side of said piston, a hydrostatic diaphragm at the opposite side of said piston, and a rod connected to said diaphragm and having thrust bearing engagement with said piston in a plane substantially common with the bearing plane of said spring upon the piston.

2. In a diving gear, the combination of a casing including a tube containing a spring and a base containing a diaphragm, said base being secured to and projecting laterally from the bottom of the tube, a pendulum having two substantially parallel arms pivotally secured to the upper end of the tube, an equalizing lever pivotally mounted to and between said pendulum arms, and a system of levers extending from said diaphragm to said equalizing lever.

3. In a diving gear, the combination of a casing including a tube containing a spring and a base containing a diaphragm, said base being secured to and projecting laterally from the bottom of the tube, a pendulum pivotally secured to the upper end of the tube, and a system of levers extending from said diaphragm to said pendulum, said levers lying in part between said tube and the arm of said pendulum and in part between the bottom of the pendulum and the bottom of the base portion of the casing.

a. In a diving gear, the combination of a casing including a tube containing a spring and a base containing a diaphragm, said base being secured to and projecting laterally from the bottom of the tube, a pendulum having two substantially parallel arms pivotally secured to the upper end of the tube, an equalizing lever pivotally mounted to and between said pendulum arms, and a system of levers extending from said diaphragm to said equalizing lever; said system of levers including a pair of rock shafts mounted in said casing base, a pair of arms secured to each shaft, a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on said tube, and a rod extending from said bell-crank lever to one of said arms.

5. In a diving gear, the combination of a casing including a closed tube containing a spring and a base containing a diaphragm, a water jacket for said tube, and inlet and outlet passages formed in said base portion of the casing and leading to and from said water acket.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

HAROLD W. SHONNARD. Witnesses:

HERMAN G. ENGELMAN, Gno. V. JAMES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. O. 

